Is Green Technology Really Profitable?

Over the past 10-15 years we’ve heard a lot about global warming, fossil fuels and the need to move towards greener technology. Many investors saw this as a golden opportunity, since we would clearly all need to adapt in the near future, and many new technologies were on the horizon a few years ago. Solar energy, electric vehicles and more innovations were in the process of being developed about a decade ago, and all looked like they were destined to make huge profits within a few short years.

However, not everything has gone according to plan within the green technology sector. Adopting new technology has been slower than many insiders estimated, and the development plans of most green energy and transport solutions have run into issues along the way. It has been tricky to build confidence in new technologies, and many companies ended up trying to minimise their risk and failed to embrace greener, more modern innovations quickly.

Another factor is that the threat of impending climate change and other side effects from pollution has not been as effective as expected. Individuals and businesses have not been as motivated to change as originally anticipated, despite knowing all the facts about what will happen to the planet (and our short term costs too) if we don’t try to be more sustainable. As a result, the last few years have seen a relative drop in the levels of investment within the sector while people remain stubborn.

Having said all that, in the past few years the speed of investment in green technology has sped up again. This has mainly been driven by developing countries who are currently building up their infrastructure. In fact, investment in eco-friendly technology from developing countries is on the verge of overtaking that in developed economies. Meanwhile, governments across the world are slowly trying to devote more resources to supporting businesses in their efforts to go green. We hope to see more of this in the UK and further afield, as there are so many potential benefits to using greener fuels and it’s only a matter of time before we are all forced to make the switch.